Clemency urged for Canadian facing execution in Iran over espionage charges

London, Apr 17 (ANI): A human rights organisation has urged the Canadian government to intervene in the case of a 44-year-old man facing execution in Iran on charges of espionage and having links with an opposition group.

Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, who returned to Iran from Canada in May 2008 to visit his elderly mother, was detained on suspicion of gathering information for the Iranian militant group Mujahideen e-Khalq (MEK).

He was convicted and given a death sentence on the basis of what officials said was an email to his brother Alborz in which he allegedly asked for some information to be collected for the MEK.

Iran has refused to give Ghassemi-Shall consular access because it does not recognise dual citizenship and Iranians who hold other nationalities are required to enter their home country using only their Iranian passport.

Now, Alex Neve, the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, has called for the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to intervene into the matter, The Guardian reports.

"We have taken up his case because of a range of serious human rights concerns, including the death penalty, allegations of torture and ill-treatment, unfair trial, and the tragic death in custody of his brother, Ghassemi, who had been arrested just before his own arrest," Neve said in a letter to Harper.

According to the paper, John Baird, Canada's foreign affairs minister, and Diane Ablonczy, the minister of state of foreign affairs recently issued a statement concerning Ghassemi-Shall.

"Canada is gravely concerned by indications that the execution of Mr Ghassemi-Shall may be carried out imminently," it added. (ANI)